Science Quote by Michael Behe

Darwin is framed here less as a finished worldview than as a brilliant temporary scaffolding, and Behe is careful to praise the edifice before questioning the foundation. The opening clause flatters the audience’s respect for scientific success: biology has “progressed tremendously” because Darwin’s model worked. That concession isn’t politeness; it’s rhetorical positioning. By granting Darwin credit, Behe aims to make his next move look like science’s natural evolution, not a culture-war ambush.

“Black boxes” is the key piece of language. In engineering, a black box is something you can use without knowing its inner workings. Behe’s subtext: Darwinian explanations relied on mechanisms they couldn’t yet describe at the molecular level, and modern biology now has the tools to pry them open. The phrase is also a subtle indictment: what was once an acceptable placeholder can, in his telling, start to look like an evasion.

Then comes the promised upheaval: “our view of the world is again being shaken.” That’s not a narrow claim about a particular pathway or protein complex; it’s a bid for paradigm-shift energy. The word “again” deliberately echoes past revolutions (Copernicus, Darwin himself), inviting readers to imagine Behe’s project as the next historical turn.

Context matters because Behe is a leading voice associated with intelligent design. So the “opening” of black boxes doesn’t just mean deeper naturalistic explanation; it signals an argument that molecular complexity strains Darwin’s gradualism and may point beyond standard evolutionary mechanisms. The quote works by coupling deference to Darwin with the thrill of disruption, wrapping a controversial thesis in the prestige language of scientific progress.